HB 1279

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to rural land protection; amending s.
3	570.70, F.S.; providing conclusions of a study by the
4	Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; amending
5	s. 201.15, F.S.; providing for the distribution of certain
6	excise taxes on documents to the Rural Lands Program Trust
7	Fund of the department; creating s. 215.6195, F.S.;
8	authorizing the issuance of bonds for rural land
9	protection; providing certain conditions; providing for
10	the deposit of proceeds; providing that issuance of such
11	bonds is in the best interest of the state; amending s.
12	570.207, F.S.; providing uses for funds in the
13	Conservation and Recreation Lands Program Trust Fund;
14	amending s. 570.71, F.S.; authorizing the use of rural
15	land protection bonds to implement provisions relating to
16	conservation and rural land protection easements and
17	agreements; authorizing the Department of Agriculture and
18	Consumer Services to grant municipalities and local
19	governments moneys to acquire land, enter into resource
20	conservation agreements, and undertake other related
21	activities; providing for conservation easements to be
22	held in the name of a local government; providing a
23	contingent effective date.
24
25	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27	Section 1.  Section 570.70, Florida Statutes, is amended to
28	read:
29	570.70  Legislative findings; study.--
30	(1)  The Legislature finds and declares that:
31	(a)(1)  A thriving rural economy with a strong agricultural
32	base, healthy natural environment, and viable rural communities
33	is an essential part of Florida. Rural areas also include the
34	largest remaining intact ecosystems and best examples of
35	remaining wildlife habitats as well as a majority of privately
36	owned land targeted by local, state, and federal agencies for
37	natural resource protection.
38	(b)(2)  The growth of Florida's population can result in
39	agricultural and rural lands being converted into residential or
40	commercial development.
41	(c)(3)  The agricultural, rural, natural resource, and
42	commodity values of rural lands are vital to the state's
43	economy, productivity, rural heritage, and quality of life.
44	(d)(4)  There is The Legislature further recognizes the
45	need for enhancing the ability of rural landowners to obtain
46	economic value from their property, protecting rural character,
47	controlling urban sprawl, and providing necessary open space for
48	agriculture and the natural environment, and the importance of
49	maintaining and protecting Florida's rural economy through
50	innovative planning and development strategies in rural areas
51	and the use of incentives that reward landowners for good
52	stewardship of land and natural resources.
53	(e)(5)  The purpose of this act is to bring under public
54	protection lands that serve to limit subdivision and conversion
55	of agricultural and natural areas that provide economic, open
56	space, water, and wildlife benefits by acquiring land or related
57	interests in land such as perpetual, less-than-fee acquisitions,
58	agricultural protection agreements, and resource conservation
59	agreements and innovative planning and development strategies in
60	rural areas.
61	(2)  A study conducted by the department to determine and
62	prioritize needs for implementing this section and s. 570.71
63	concluded the following:
64	(a)  Between 1964 and 1997, this state lost nearly 5
65	million acres of valuable agricultural land, with most of the
66	loss involving ranch and forest lands.
67	(b)  This state currently has 9,114,000 acres of
68	agricultural land with natural resource attributes, including
69	groundwater recharge, natural floodplain, and significant
70	species habitat, and more than 900,000 acres of this land will
71	be converted to other uses within a decade.
72	(c)  The objective of a program to protect agricultural
73	land with natural resource value through conservation easements
74	and other tools should be the protection of 1 acre for every
75	acre lost.
76	Section 2.  Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section
77	201.15, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
78	201.15  Distribution of taxes collected.--All taxes
79	collected under this chapter shall be distributed as follows and
80	shall be subject to the service charge imposed in s. 215.20(1),
81	except that such service charge shall not be levied against any
82	portion of taxes pledged to debt service on bonds to the extent
83	that the amount of the service charge is required to pay any
84	amounts relating to the bonds:
85	(1)  Sixty-two and sixty-three hundredths percent of the
86	remaining taxes collected under this chapter shall be used for
87	the following purposes:
88	(d)  The remainder of the moneys distributed under this
89	subsection, after the required payments under paragraphs (a),
90	(b), and (c), shall be paid into the State Treasury to the
91	credit of the General Revenue Fund of the state to be used and
92	expended for the purposes for which the General Revenue Fund was
93	created and exists by law, or to the Ecosystem Management and
94	Restoration Trust Fund or to the Marine Resources Conservation
95	Trust Fund as provided in subsection (11), or to the Rural Lands
96	Program Trust Fund of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
97	Services as provided in s. 215.6195. Moneys available under this
98	paragraph shall first be used to pay debt service due on any
99	rural land protection bond or to make any other payments
100	required by the bond documents authorizing the issuance before
101	such moneys are used for other purposes authorized by this
102	paragraph.
103	Section 3.  Section 215.6195, Florida Statutes, is created
104	to read:
105	215.6195  Bonds for rural land protection.--
106	(1)  The issuance of rural land protection bonds is
107	authorized. The rural land protection bonds may be issued over
108	the next 10 fiscal years commencing on July 1, 2005, in an
109	amount not exceeding $50 million in any fiscal year, subject to
110	s. 570.71 and s. 11(e), Art. VII of the State Constitution. The
111	duration of each series of bonds issued may not exceed 20 annual
112	maturities. Except for refunding bonds, a series of bonds may
113	not be issued unless an amount equal to the debt service coming
114	due in the year of issuance has been specifically appropriated
115	in the General Appropriations Act.
116	(2)  The state covenants with the holders of rural land
117	protection bonds that it will not take any action that will
118	materially and adversely affect the rights of such holders so
119	long as the bonds are outstanding, including, but not limited
120	to, a reduction in the portion of documentary stamp taxes
121	distributable to the Rural Lands Program Trust Fund of the
122	Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for payment of
123	debt service.
124	(3)  Bonds issued under this section shall be payable from
125	taxes distributable to the Rural Lands Program Trust Fund of the
126	Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under s.
127	201.15(1)(d). Bonds issued under this section do not constitute
128	a general obligation of, or a pledge of the full faith and
129	credit of, the state.
130	(4)  The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
131	shall request the Division of Bond Finance of the State Board of
132	Administration to issue the rural land protection bonds
133	authorized by this section. The Division of Bond Finance shall
134	issue such bonds pursuant to the State Bond Act.
135	(5)  The proceeds from the sale of bonds issued under this
136	section, less the costs of issuance, the costs of funding
137	reserve accounts, and other costs with respect to the bonds,
138	shall be deposited into the Conservation and Recreation Lands
139	Program Trust Fund of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
140	Services as provided in s. 570.71.
141	(6)  The sale, disposition, lease, easement, license, or
142	other use of any land, water areas, or related property
143	interests acquired or improved with proceeds of rural land
144	protection bonds which would cause all or any portion of the
145	interest of such bonds to lose the exclusion from gross income
146	for federal income tax purposes is prohibited.
147	(7)  The initial series of rural land protection bonds
148	shall be validated in addition to any other bonds required to be
149	validated under s. 215.82. Any complaint for validation of bonds
150	issued under this section shall be filed only in the circuit
151	court of the county where the seat of state government is
152	situated, the notice required to be published by s. 75.06 shall
153	be published only in the county where the complaint is filed,
154	and the complaint and order of the circuit court shall be served
155	only on the state attorney of the circuit in which the action is
156	pending.
157	Section 4.  In accordance with section 215.98(1), Florida
158	Statutes, the Legislature determines that the issuance of rural
159	land protection bonds under section 3 of this act is in the best
160	interest of the state and should be implemented.
161	Section 5.  Subsection (1) of section 570.207, Florida
162	Statutes, is amended to read:
163	570.207  Conservation and Recreation Lands Program Trust
164	Fund of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.--
165	(1)  There is created a Conservation and Recreation Lands
166	Program Trust Fund within the Department of Agriculture and
167	Consumer Services. The purpose of the trust fund is to provide
168	for the management of conservation and recreation lands by the
169	department and to fund the Rural and Family Lands Protection Act
170	created in ss. 570.70 and 570.71. The department may use not
171	more than one-half of 1 percent of the bond proceeds deposited
172	into the trust fund for administrative purposes. Funds may be
173	appropriated to the trust fund from the Conservation and
174	Recreation Lands Trust Fund in the Department of Environmental
175	Protection, as created by s. 259.032(2), or from such other
176	sources as the Legislature may determine for the management of
177	conservation and recreation lands by the department.
178	Additionally, subject to s. 11(e), Art. VII of the State
179	Constitution, the department may use bond proceeds deposited
180	under s. 215.6195 and funds from such other sources as the
181	Legislature determines for acquiring conservation easements and
182	rural land protection easements and for funding agricultural
183	protection agreements and resource conservation agreements
184	pursuant to s. 570.71.
185	Section 6.  Subsection (12) of section 570.71, Florida
186	Statutes, is amended, and subsection (15) is added to that
187	section, to read:
188	570.71  Conservation easements and agreements.--
189	(12)  The department is authorized to use funds from the
190	following sources to implement this act:
191	(a)  State funds;
192	(b)  Rural land protection bonds as authorized by s.
193	215.6195;
194	(c)(b)  Federal funds;
195	(d)(c)  Other governmental entities;
196	(e)(d)  Nongovernmental organizations; or
197	(f)(e)  Private individuals.
198
199	Any such funds provided shall be deposited into the Conservation
200	and Recreation Lands Program Trust Fund within the Department of
201	Agriculture and Consumer Services and used for the purposes of
202	this act.
203	(15)  The department may grant municipalities and counties
204	a portion of moneys available for the purposes of this section
205	to acquire perpetual, less-than-fee interest in land, to enter
206	into agricultural protection agreements, and to enter into
207	resource conservation agreements, as defined by and for the
208	public purposes set forth in this section. The department shall
209	adopt rules that provide for a grants program to fund local
210	government acquisition projects that are consistent with the
211	appropriate local government comprehensive plan and that
212	encourage the use of matching federal and local government
213	funding to acquire conservation easements, agricultural
214	protection agreements, and resource protection agreements. The
215	department may enter into management agreements with
216	municipalities and counties for the purpose of administering
217	resource conservation agreements and agricultural protection
218	agreements. Conservation easements purchased by local
219	governments under this subsection may be held in the name of the
220	local government.
221	Section 7.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005, if
222	House Bill ____, or similar legislation creating the Rural Lands
223	Program Trust Fund, is adopted in the same legislative session
224	or an extension thereof and becomes law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.